food security

Little Progress So Far On U.S. Goal Of Cutting Food Waste In Half

By Susan Abram/FairWarning | July 11, 2019

While one in eight Americans are considered to be “food insecure,” an estimated 40 percent of the nation’s supply of fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat goes to waste, discarded by farmers, retailers, restaurant owners and households. Three federal agencies have agreed to work together to cut that food waste in half by 2030. But a recent government oversight report found that the agencies – the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration – have made little headway, despite some initial actions. The EPA and USDA announced the national goal in 2015, with the FDA joining the effort last year. That was when the three agencies signed a formal, two-year agreement to develop a strategic plan to “increase collaboration and coordination.”

Yet according to the non-partisan Government Accountability Office, the roles of the agencies remain undefined, and their 2030 goal faces widespread challenges.

farmland ownership

As Foreign Investment In U.S. Farmland Grows, Efforts To Ban And Limit The Increase Mount

By Johnathan Hettinger/Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | June 7, 2019

Foreign investors acquired at least 1.6 million acres of agricultural land in the United States in 2016, the largest increase in more than a decade, a Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting of the latest available federal data shows.

David Nabarro

Honoree’s Life Shows What A Helping Hand Can Mean

By Randy Evans/Stray Thoughts | October 24, 2018

Each year in October, when the Iowa countryside transforms from gorgeous summer greens to harvest season hues of tan, some of the world’s top agricultural scientists and anti-hunger activists gather in Des Moines to compare notes. The occasion is the presentation of the annual World Food Prize.